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Classic Week-Epic Fail: Claire LaZebnik

Not another Pride and Prejudice retelling. Unfortunately, yes. I actually read this back to back with Prom and Prejudice. And no, it wasn’t just pure coincidence. Although, the plot of this book might be a little redundant after the past entry, I thought it might be helpful reading the two back to back to compare them.

General Summary: By this time it’s sort of getting redundant. If you haven’t been reading the last few entries and want to know the general summary of Pride and Prejudice click here. LaZebnik like Eulberg, has decided to take this classic story and give it a modern spin. And how does she do this by throwing Hollywood into the mix. Yes, Hollywood. It actually works better than it sounds.

Review: I liked LaZebnik’s version of this classic story. I really liked the Hollywood spin, it’s a great way to show the tensions in society which my college English professor would applaud. Another thing I will give props to LaZebnik is her version of Bingley. Chase is the only Bingley that I’ve ever really liked. Why, because he has a backbone? He’s actually tricked into dumping Jane and rather than acting like a pansy about it he takes action. There were a few problems with this book, conflict was glossed over. And at times I thought the Darcy and Elizabeth was a bit rushed. And where the hell was Mr. Collins, Charlotte Lucas, and Mary?

Best Feature: Hollywood: I loved the Hollywood spin this book had. A school of celebrity brats how can you not love that? And I think doing the whole Hollywood thing allowed LaZebnik some leeway when it came to handling the whole Wickham thing.

Yep, Elizabeth and Darcy are in La La Land.

Worst Feature: Too Happy? I really liked this book. But I just feel like a lot of the conflict was quickly fluffed over. Yes, it existed, but it was resolved within the matter of pages. Take the Bingley and Jane conflict for instance. In the original it’s only towards the end that the two of them get back together. In here it’s a matter of twenty or so pages. Which is nice, but sometimes I like a little angst.

This book is like cotton candy, but is there ever too much of a good thing? You be the judge.

Blockbuster Worthy: Of course. As I said, Austen retellings are in. Even Stephenie Meyer knows that. So here’s who I’d cast. Yep, the same cast as last time. Why? Because I read them back to back and have the same people stuck in my head, lol.

Overall Rating: Eight out of ten Darcy’s (same grade I gave Eulberg’s retelling). I think both books did a nice job with reinterpreting Jane Austen’s work. They both had their strengths and weaknesses, but I don’t have a preference

2 thoughts on “Classic Week-Epic Fail: Claire LaZebnik”

Man, I hate when they cut off Mary!!She's and Kitty always get the worse end of the stick.Anyway, I'm actually going to start reading this today so I hope I like it!!BTW, I love your blog, =) and sorry if you get tons of comments from me.

I'm glad you like it and I like comments. So feel free to comment all you want. I really get annoyed when Kitty and Mary are slighted. Especially Mary. I feel like there's a character that could have lots of potential in a modern Austen adaption.